Seventy years have now passed since Nick Creme created the first plastic worm from vinyl plastic, oils and pigments. Creme’s ingenuity set in motion a burgeoning soft bait industry. And yet, it’s interesting to consider that most of today’s bait manufacturers still use the same old polyvinylchloride (PVC) based soft plastics, decades later. By contrast, materials and technology to develop new fishing lines, rods, reels and electronics have improved and increased fishing success with each passing season.
Meanwhile, inside the laboratory of an certain South Carolina fishing tackle company, creative minds were churning in a different direction, working toward a radical softbait recipe with intriguing possibilities. The day the calendar flipped to 05/05/05— following several starts, stops and reboots— the first batch of the newly perfected baits virtually crawled out of their aluminum molds.
Following three years of research and development, the folks at Z-Man Fishing—at the time the world’s largest provider of silicone lure skirts—had achieved what others refused to consider possible. “From early on, we were really motivated by the idea of creating a bait from an environmentally benign substance that outperformed traditional PVC baits in the water,” recalls Jolee Myers, Operations Manager at Z-Man Fishing.
“Among a host of existing products and materials on the table, we identified some creepy-crawly kids toys whose composition seemed to check the right boxes. Among several advantages, we especially liked the fact the material floated without having to add plastic beads or so-called microballoons. That was a huge discovery because it meant we could create a much more realistic bait, with tails, claws and appendages that would float up in a natural, lifelike posture.”
Although the foundational material was already in use in certain consumer products, Myers and others at Z-Man quickly realized that the commercially available compounds weren’t quite right for fishing baits.
“We were in uncharted waters; there was no playbook for creating baits from a state-of-the-art material we eventually named ElaZtech,” says Myers, a sixteen-year Z-Man executive who helps oversee the day-to-day bait-making facility near Charleston, South Carolina. “We worked for three years to finally develop a workable material and the right machines and processing with which to make baits.
“The great part about working with such a unique, unusual material, though, is that it allowed us—and still does— to keep an open mind and constantly innovate new formulas and ways to improve on the fishability of the baits. By maintaining our USA based operations, we can also control and perfect every aspect of bait making, from changing the baits’ durometer (softness) and buoyancy to adding scent or fine-tuning colors to the exact specifications required by anglers.”